Toddler Lessons Learned

I've learned a few things over the past year of toddlerhood... here are my top five:

1. A place for everything and everything in its place
Evie really likes to put things in places. Channeled correctly this could be an incredibly useful trait. Unfortunately I have yet to figure out how to persuade Evie toward the productive end of this rule, so it means that any number of odds and ends at any given time can be found in the stray paper bag, sock, purse, nook or drawer. I am afraid at this point we won’t find that extra set of keys to the Honda until Evie is old enough to drive it. (Yes Patrick I blame this on her) and who knew that the perfect spot for my library card was in Evie’s pink purse (we have since gotten Evie her very own card… one treasure to hide down, 1,000 to go)

Lesson Learned: If you don’t want it bagged, tagged and hidden you better keep it waaaay out of reach.

2. Shoes fit best on the wrong feet, and its closely related cousin PJs don’t really matter
For some reason Evie is hell-bent on always putting her shoes on the wrong feet and woe to the parent who tries to correct this error. She will swear up and down that they are more comfortable that way. I think she has a bit of her father’s stubbornness to her. Also in the stubbornness department, for a few weeks I fought a nightly battle with Evie to change out of her day clothes and into pajamas. I then took a step back and realized that I don’t even usually wear pajamas, so why the heck am I making her? (I do, however, make a habit of putting my shoes on the correct feet)

Lesson Learned: Some battles are just not worth fighting… Does it really matter if her shoes are on the wrong feet or if she wears today’s clothes to bed? Evie now goes to bed most nights in her day clothes (and I’ll admit to sending her to school once, OK maybe twice, in the same clothes as the day before… with clean underwear of course… even I am not that uncouth)

3. Mess is best, put your tile floors to the test
Evie is a Tasmanian mess-maker. One of her favorite activities du jour is to play with water… If left to her own devices for more than a few minutes we will inevitably find her filling up the bathroom sink and creating some sort of concoction with any, and all ingredients she can find. The most recent witches brew consisted of hand soap, lotion, toilet paper, q-tips and a painting of hers off the fridge… Of course as she makes trips around the house to collect her ingredients she drips water and other bits of the concoction. My kitchen floors, which bear the brunt of this traffic, look clean for maybe an hour max after mopping… awesome.

Lesson Learned: Not one to stifle creativity I only ask that she turn the water off after she gets a full bowl (When asked “Why?” I explained because the trees need water too.) and that she wipe up any stray water and or concoction bits up with a towel when she is finished.

4. Take notes
Evie says the most awesome things. For example, yesterday she told my mom, “Mina, you are really lucky to have a Mini, all we have is a Honda.” I swear she comes out with a zinger or two like this every day…

Lesson Learned: I am resolved, and I’ll admit I haven’t done it yet, to start carrying around a notebook with me so I can record them for posterity. After all, you never know when you may need a good laugh.

5. Always jump in puddles.

Red Rocks

For the second year in a row Evie and I went up to Sedona with Patrick for an annual conference of his. I must admit, I have been to Sedona so many times growing up and as an adult that it is almost a commonplace sort of place for me. I know where all the shops and restaurants are, where to park even when its crowded, etc. All this familiarity though ends whenever I look out and see those amazing red rocks. I was particularly lucky this trip because on Saturday night it snowed and we were blessed with a brief view of some snow dusted buttes and mesas...


Much fun was had with Patrick when he wasn't in the conference, including a pie snack on the bed....Evie and I also had a lot of fun spending some quality mother-daughter time. We partook in my two favorite things to do as a duo.. shopping and hiking. On Friday night Evie and I went out to dinner and then walked over to the Gap Outlet. For the first time ever we actually shopped together (now there is a milestone for ya :) She went around and picked out a couple of fancy dresses to try one and, of course, one fabulous pair of pink patent leather slippers with a large pink jewel on them. Piles of clothes in our hands, we headed to the dressing room to try them on. Evie was hilarious, trying on each dress and looking at herself in the mirror. I told her she had to pick two that she wanted and I would buy them. Unfortunately she is still to little to explain the whole concept of pick the dress that is cool and on sale, that will just have to be a lesson for another time.

On Saturday we woke up early and after a scrumptious breakfast went out to the bell rock area and did an awesome little 4.5 mile hike. Well, Evie only hiked about 1/2 mile of it but she did have a lot of fun collecting and redistributing berries that we found. After the hike we went into town and had a nice mexican food lunch. The whole time she was so great and so much fun to be around. It is really neat for me to see how our relationship changes as she gets older, I wonder what we'll do in Sedona next year?

Mornin' cuddles

For about a month now Evie has taken to joining us in bed every morning at around 6:30 am. It all started about a month ago when Evie asked if she could sleep with us for the night. The answer from Patrick and I was a resounding no... buuut being the conciliatory parents we are (and also real cuddle junkies) we told her that she was welcome to join us in the morning "once the sun came out" Of course everyone knows the sun does not come out at 6:30 am during the winter but she (almost never) comes in before that so we have let that part of the deal slide. (Kid is like an alarm clock, no matter when she goes to bed at 6:30 on the dot each morning she is pad, pad, padding down the hall to our room).

She started by essentially stalking us, hanging out at the bedroom door, breathing heavily and sniffing loudly, waiting, hoping that one of us would wake up and invite her into the room. After we made it clear to her that it was OK to come right in in the morning she then would come into the room and hang out at my side of the bed staring at me until I woke up. (The first time she did this I almost had a heart attack). At this point I asked her to go ahead and wake me up when she came in the room so I could help her into bed. So she then would come in, blankie sweater in hand, crawl into bed and then proceed to fight with us over our pillows. After about a week of pillow fights (so to speak) she started coming in with her own pillow (clever girl).

This whole arrangement works out pretty well on weekdays but on weekends, when we would like to sleep past 6:45 (15 minutes is about as long as she wants to cuddle) She starts chit-chatting with Patrick and I about any number of things... dreams she had, foods she would really like to eat, her most recent treatise on how much she loves her dog Kita. The other weekend Patrick implored her to stop talking... to which she obliged... and then started singing, "Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go dowown medicine go down...."

Uncouth

If you were told that Evie is a bit uncouth would it surprise you? If not, how about this one for ya... I walked in to pick up Evie from preschool yesterday and she was inside washing her hands with her teacher instead of out on the playground. Her teacher turns to me and very embarrassed says "Oh, we just found Evie over in the corner on the playground peeing on a tree." Now of course my first reaction is raucous laughter, because, clearly, Evie is not the only uncouth Lacroix. But I bit my lip and in a very serious face told Evie that is was not OK to pee on trees at school... that this is only something she can do while she is camping. Her teacher at this point now is trying not to crack up too, having realized that I am no puritanical pee enforcer. I asked her why she didn't just go inside and she proclaimed, quite matter of factly "Because I didn't want to and the tree was right there."

Evie kept questioning me why she could pee on trees while camping and not at school and I ran through a litany of reasons, it is yucky, it might make people sick, school has different rules than the woods... I think those were my three best. In the end I proclaimed, "Well Evie it is OK, you were just confused." To which she replied "No mommy I wasn't, I just wanted to pee on the tree." I can see that we are going to have to be more rigid with where we permit peeing...

Preschool and Snow!

A long anticipated event occurred this past week... Evie is now officially a preschooler! She started school last week in a French immersion program. She seems to be enjoying it... on the first day I practically had to peel her off the playground, I'll take that as a good sign. She also provided us with a lovely round of her new favorite song "S'il vous plait" which consists of the phrase said over and over again with different intonations. I am not sure if this is a school song or an Evie original, I'll have to ask her teacher :)

I half expected her first week to be really traumatic, new school, no diapers to fall back on and all in a language she really doesn't know. I know that I would be, at the very least, totally stressed if I were her. All I could think of during that first day after we dropped her off was how I felt when I went to China in high school and didn't understand a word that was being said to me for 3/4 of the day... But, so far as I can tell hanging out all morning with people who speak a language you don't understand doesn't faze her, pretty neat really. I am now fascinated with second language acquisition in little kids and have started gobbling up all sorts of info (for better or for worse) on the internet.


Anyway... the other fabulous event of the past week has been a ton of rain and SNOW! OK well the snow wasn't exactly in town... but we sure could see it from town. It was so lovely that we really just spent most of Saturday at my parents house staring out their huge windows at the mountains. We did manage to muster a short hike up one of the washes near my mom's place in the afternoon. It was actually quite cold even in Tucson (in the 40s... which, in my opinion, is about as cold as it should ever get, anything less is inhuman :)

Oh and just in case you can't quite see it in the photo collage...here is a close up of Evie's take on the appropriate clothes to wear hiking...

San Diego

Last Wednesday, for the second year in a row, we packed it up and drove the 7 hours to San Diego for New Years. This year was extra special (or was supposed to be at least) because Patrick scored tickets for all of us to go to see U of A play in the Holiday Bowl on Wednesday night. So there we were, all full of excitement on Wednesday at the crack of dawn loading up the car and going to the big game. All the way to San Diego we saw excited wildcats fans, flags flying from cars, bedecked folks at each gas/pee stop... and the excitement continued at 4 pm when we piled into first a bus and then the most crowded trolley/train that I had ever been on in this country. The opening to the game was a blast (well it was for geeky ex-band people like me, lots of marching band goodness) but, I am sad to say, the fun all ended in the first few minutes of the game when Nebraska began what was to be a terrible, terrible cat massacre. The only redeeming value to the remainder of the spectacle was the half-time show... after which not only was U of A doing terribly on the scoreboard but it started to drizzle. Oh well, luckily for us with Evie around even a sad game can be a hilarious and fun event! At around 9:30 we called it a game and stood in line for over 1/2 hour to get back on the trolley to head home. Once we were all repacked like sardines we started socializing and ended up getting a troop of tipsy dads on a night out to sing some pretty rousing choruses of Supercalafragalisticexpialadocious, Tomorrow and Do, Re, Mi. By the time we got home (around midnight Tucson time) Evie was decidedly pooped but in amazingly good spirits!


The next morning we decided that a trip to Sea World would be fun... and let me tell ya it didn't disappoint. What was a bit disappointing was the hour plus it took us to take the bus to Sea World. Fortunately we had Evie to entertain us both while we waited for the bus and on the bus. (The next day we went back to Sea World, this time in our car, and it took a whopping 3 minutes door to door... I kid you not)


Evie loved Sea World! The highlights were (of course) the Shamu show, a 4-D Polar Express movie and the sesame street play area made just for people like her, i.e., under four feet tall.

New Year's Eve was pretty low key. We took a little walk along the beach and then ended at a little bodega for butter (necessary for scrambled eggs and forgotten in Tucson) and the nice owner gave Evie a lollipop. (She periodically reminded us of this act of kindness for the rest of the trip) On New Years Day we went back to Sea World which was just as fun as the first day... except there were a quarter of the people there.



Saturday the fun continued with a trip to the San Diego Zoo and, the highlight of Evie's trip, the old Carousel near the Zoo. She actually remembered this carousel from last year... when we started talking about the trip she asked if we would go back there and ride on it again. It made for a lovely ending to a fabulous trip... I thought it closed at 5 pm and so as we made our way back to the zoo (after a much needed nap for all) at 5 pm I was sure it would be closed. But, as it turned out, it was still running when we pulled up so Patrick and Evie jumped out of the car while I parked and made a b-line for it. As it turned out it closed at 5:30 so we were in time for a ride! Later that night we were all in a silly, happy mood and Evie asked that I take some pictures of her "faces" from left to right they are: playful, happy and "mad"... too funny!

Belated Christmas

Merry (belated) Christmas! We had a whole heck of a lot of fun celebrating Christmas at my parent's new Tucson digs. Patrick was a bit under the weather so we let him unwrap a present on Christmas Eve... fabulous footie pjs. I bought them as a joke but now as I watch him cozy up in them every night I feel myself very envious and may just have to buy my own set.


Santa brought Evie a train set. (Which somehow she knew was recycled... she commented to me on Christmas morning that "This train set used to be uncle Brendy's but now Santa gave it to me.") She also received a super cool doll house from Mina and Papa. Then after all the presents were opened we journeyed up to Phoenix (but poor Patrick stayed home) for the large Rimsza Christmas dinner. This was our first year having to make the trek. It was really nice to see all of my family but it made for an exhausting Christmas! Evie's favorite part of the Phoenix trip was my cousin's trampoline, which we had to peel her off. She didn't take a nap at all and ended up getting so tired that she actually (first time I can remember) asked to be put to sleep around 4 pm. Unfortunately this meant she missed the second coming of the Christmas gifts, but was very excited when we got back to Tucson that night and she had more presents to open....

Winterhaven

On Wednesday we made it over to winterhaven. It was quite the chilly night (down to about 40 degrees... OK chilly by our standards) Try as I might though I couldn't get Evie to take off the pink dress she picked up at the street fair... at least I convinced her to wear the awesome new sweater that Oma made for her. It didn't exactly "go" with the dress but the end result was pretty cute.

This year we went with the Eriksons again as well as my folk and brother. Evie's favorite was definitely the house with the bellagio-esque water and music show. She was hopping up and down and dancing to the music as well as ohhing and ahhing.

After a stroll through winterhaven we came back to our house for pizza and beer and Evie and my dad treated us to some Christmas carols on the piano(s).

Cookies and the Parade of Lights!

The fun last weekend continued with my (now annual... two years running... not quite an institution yet) holiday cookie party. This year my mom offered to host at her spacious house. It was great! There was plenty of room for cooking and decorating. And, thanks to my Aunt and cousins, we had a ton of fabulous sprinkles, frosting and other decorating niceties!


Evie's two favorite parts of the cookie making affair were licking the batter off the beater and eating frosting, with a little bit of decorating with frosting thrown in for good measure. After a solid hour of cookie decorating and sugar intake the kids all went outside and played on my parents little patch of grass. They were all so cute and happy! A few kids ventured into the garage to see my dad and somehow (it is unclear to me how my dad could get suckered into it) he let them into the jag to check it out. Apparently, a week later, he is still cleaning cookie dough from the crevices of the car. No holiday party would be complete without a little music and Evie and her friend did a wonderful job of "playing" the piano for us too.


As if making cookies wasn't exciting enough... later that day we went down to IST for Evie's first official event with her new school, riding on the school's float in the Parade of Lights! The parade was a lot of fun, but for me the best part was bopping through town from the school to downtown on the back of the float. We got a lot of funny looks and honks from folks.

Whew, what a weekend... I think this weekend we may just all need to do nothing but nap....

Santa Take Two

Evie had her second (and I think final) encounter with Santa last Friday at the Holiday Party for Patrick's work. About a week ago Evie and I went out to Ross so she could pick out a present for Patrick for Christmas... more on that choice later... and she found this awesome Christmas dress for herself with a matching baby doll dress. (Good to know the shopping for yourself while shopping for others problem doesn't just happen to me) So before the party Evie insisted on getting all dressed up in her Christmas dress and had to make sure her dollie was dressed and set to go too.


The kids got kind of nervous because Santa was quite delayed. Turns out the battery on this motorcycle (actually I think it is a trike) was bum. Good thing not even a bad battery can keep Santa away. The kids must have hung out in front of Patrick's office for an hour waiting for him. Evie was a bit more shy this time a first but as soon as her name was called and she saw the big present she warmed up to him really fast. Santa brought her a fabulous pink camper, complete with a tent trailer. She has been playing with for hours on end ever since....

(Santa getting a jumpstart)

Dubious milestone #112

There are many things that I did not expect to happen to me when I became a parent. I like to think of them as my "dubious milestones". Dubious because I have heard rumors of them but quite frankly never thought they could possibly happen to me (How haughty and naive!)

For example, an early dubious milestone,I think it was number 6 or 7, was finding myself up to my elbows in poo after a particularly explosive bm (or poo-splosions as we called them). Another was the day, about two weeks ago, when my unhappy tot declared "I don't like you Mommy!" (That must have been dubious milestone number 100 or so... in another year I imagine we'll reach its sister milestone of the dreaded, "I hate you mommy"... gosh if I don't look forward to that one.)

The "best" to date though was the dubious milestone I achieved last Sunday,Number 112: locking my daughter and car keys into the car together. Now, never the one to go easy on achievements, I also managed to lock my house keys and our dog in the car as well. I must say that the little car-door-lock beeep as I shut the back door was just about the worst sound I have ever heard. After a brief moment of panic I looked at Evie and calmly said, "Sweetie I need to run next door for a moment but I'll be right back." She looked at me with her big doe eyes and said "OK Mommy, see you soon." I ran over to our neighbors, which, thankfully were there and used their phone to call Patrick, who, thankfully, for once actually picked up his cell phone. He was only about 15 minutes away (thankfully). To pass the time while I waited for Patrick to come home I played hide and seek with Evie through the windows of the car... she was very brave and only got a little upset toward the end of her wait in the car. So although it was a doozie of a dubious milestone all is well that ends well.

Here is to hoping that 1) I never do that again and 2) I get a bit of a reprieve from dubious milestones for awhile!

Santa, Take One

My folks, Patrick and I took Evie to zoo lights at the little zoo near our house last weekend. Last year we went with Patrick's mom and Evie was pretty scared on the white bearded man and our "santa picture" turned out as a picture of me with santa with a little bit of Evie's face showing and all of her back. (But it was a pretty good picture of me :)

This year was totally different. Once we arrived at zoo lights Evie made a b-line to the area where santa resides because she was so darn excited to see him. Once her turn came she hoped up on his lap answered his questions about how old she was, told him that last year she was scared of him and then, of course, informed him of her holiday request... a choo-choo train. She then gave him a big hug, received her candy and went along her merry way, happy as a clam. Trains were definetly the theme of the night and so as we left we just had to take a ride on the little zoo train, which was all decorated with lights for the occasion.


This Friday Evie will get to see Santa again at Patrick's work, we'll see how she reacts to the second Santa of the season....

Thanksgiving

We had a lovely, low-key Thanksgiving this year at my Uncle Bob and Aunt Lisa's house here in Tucson. My brother and Claudia drove down from Tempe and my Uncle Jim and Aunt Sharon drove over from Las Cruces... so for a Rimsza gathering it was pretty slight. I actually got up the nerve to try to cook something real this year (I usually buy a pie or steam some vegetables...there was one year I actually cooked a turkey but that was quite a while ago now) and made roasted sweet potatoes and acorn squash slices. The sweet potatoes turned out pretty well but I wasn't such a fan of the squash... but who am I kidding, it takes a pretty mean squash to impress me.

Thanksgiving morning, while taking a bath, I asked Evie if she was going to try some turkey. Her exact response (I wrote it down because it was so funny) was: "Well, I don't think I am going to eat turkey because I am a vegetarian." Awesome.



Evie was offered a pony ride on cousin Melissa's new pony but she got a little spooked (Evie, not the pony) and opted just to hang out with the goats instead. Before dinner we all filled out hands and put something we were thankful for on each finger. We then hid the hand under a plate and after dinner each person had to try to guess whose hand they had. Evie filled out a hand too. Her 5 things were: Mommy, Daddy,cake, Mommy (I guess she ran out of ideas) and Mimi, who gave her the necklace she is wearing in these pictures over a year ago, but Evie got to wear it for the first time on Thanksgiving. She was very excited and thankful for it and the grandma who sent it her way :)

School Photos

At about this time last year my sister in law and I tried to take Evie and my nephew Dylan out to get professional pictures taken... it ended miserably. Well things sure have changed in one year. Evie got her first set of school photos taken this past month and man are they (in my totally biased opinion) cute! Only problem I have with them is when the heck did she get so old? (sniff, sniff)

Indoctrination

No matter how much we (or at least some, like myself) would like to pretend that we are above intentional indoctrination of our brood, I am here to admit that any feelings of spiritual impartiality went out the window two weeks ago when I found the most awesome children’s book ever. A week ago now I had a Wednesday all to myself (Veteran’s Day). It was a positively marvelous day filled with taking care of all the nagging errands and a nice massage thrown in for good measure. Well, one of my favorite pastimes that I don’t get to do very often anymore is just to leisurely browse through my local used bookstore. Without Evie in tow, I was able to spend a whole ½ hour there just browsing. Of course, even then she wasn’t far from my mind because the area I browsed was the kids section, but a leisurely browse is a leisurely browse. As I grazed I came upon a wonderful book tucked between two precious moment’s bibles in the “children’s religion” section… Moody Cow Meditates. The very thought of it made me giggle, so I (figuring worst case Evie hates the books and I spend 5 dollars on a giggle) snagged it from the shelf and brought it home.

Well Evie anything but hates Moody Cow. It has become near nightly reading and, in fact, one day last week I was required to read it no less than 5 times… in two hours. The book is about a cow who has a terrible day and who is helped down off his angry ledge by a wise grandfather who teaches him to meditate… awesome. Evie has gotten so into this book that we now “meditate” together, al la two-year. In other words, she sits on my meditation cushion and asks me questions like, “can I ring the bells again?” And “is the time up?” and “why does meditating take so long?” She is doing quite well now and will actually sit still with me for about two minutes, which for a two year old is pretty darn good. Who knows, by the time she is 16 maybe she’ll be ready for a week long silent retreat….(hahahahaha)

Dancin'...

Make no mistake... Evie is a dancing queen (In case you think this is my good taste, the outfit was totally her doing)

Fairytale

A new plague has taken root in the Lacroix household, and although I am told it is quite the common affliction amongst the under 10 female set, I am concerned about all of our welfare nonetheless. Ahh yes I remember now how I laughed heartily when told that it was only a matter of time until the dreaded princess pox reached my home, spreading pink pestilence in its wake. I waved them off with a chuckle, oh no not my daughter, she would never succumb to such an illness. But, my friends, I am here to say that I, once again, have been naïve. There is just no escaping this plague, and given that Evie has already fallen ill there is nothing for Patrick and I to do but to capitulate and become fairytaled as well.

The first symptoms emerged months ago, a request for pretty skirt here and there, the desire for me to build a castle for her out of a cardboard box, but the peak (or so we imagine…hope?) came to pass this past Monday when Evie began to insist that I call her Sleeping Beauty and that my name was no longer Mommy but Cinderella. While cooking dinner on Monday night Sleeping Beauty frequently beckoned Cinderella to her room to give her a kiss and wake her up so that we could go live in Cinderella’s castle “happily ever after” (I tried to explain to Evie that based on current injustices in our country Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty would only be able to live together and not get married like she wanted us to, but she just brushed this snag aside with a “Come on Mommy-Cinderella, its getting late and I don’t want you to loose a shoe.”) Then, once Patrick came home, the real fun started as we had our Prince Charming. Prince Charming was then required to help Sleeping Beauty jump on the bed (I’m not sure what fairytale that is from… but a little creativity here and there is nice)

All week long now Patrick has been replaced by Prince Charming (so to speak) who has had not one but two princesses. Reality set in this morning however when Sleeping Beauty (which, come to think of it, is pretty ironic given that she really hasn’t slept very well this week) told me that it was time for Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty to wake up and make coffee and pancakes for Prince Charming. So much for happily ever after.

Halloween!

Evie had a great Halloween this year! Her Mina made her a fabulous fairy costume and man did she get excited to wear it. The costume was topped off by a wand that a good witch at Valley of the Moon gave her. The wand says kindness on one side and happiness on the other, so of course Evie had to go around casting kind and happy spells on everyone.... including Kita. On Friday we went to my Uncle's annual Halloween party, which is always a great display of Halloween-ness... complete with haunted tents and "dead" things floating in the pool.


On Saturday we had a little gathering at our house of a few of Evie's friends (well really our friends who just happen to bring along Evie's friends). There was great food brought by all and even better trick or treating. While part of the crew (mostly male) hung out and passed out candy the rest of us went around the block, but at the speed of toddlers (and a few older kids who patiently waited) it took over an hour.


Then after trick or treating the whole crew gathered on the front porch to continue to pass out candy and to watch usually un-sugared kids have waaay to much fun with suckers and other such delights.

Lots to report

Well I haven't had a chance to post in a few weeks. It has been a pretty fabulous few weeks though! Two weekends ago Patrick, Evie, my Dad and I all went to the Blues Festival in Reid Park. Evie and Patrick really cut a rug on the little dance floor in front of the stage! Then afterward Evie went on a makeshift train ride... nothing quite like an entrepreneur. (It made Patrick a bit nervous so he felt the need to pretty much follow the train around the playground)




Then last weekend I went to Chicago and then Madison for my friend Lara's wedding (no pictures though, I couldn't find my lens cap so I didn't bring my camera). Evie was a little sad to see me go so I cheered her up with a cowgirl shirt... she then proceeded to snag my hat that I was going to wear and it all turned out too cute to not take a picture. While I was gone Patrick and Evie had a blast and did all sorts of things like a football game, a second trip to valley of the moon (a funky little Tucson thing), the zoo and more than one outing for bagels. I missed them all weekend but I think they had more fun without me :)


This week I took another day off because my good friend Dorigen was in town for a conference and decided to stay an extra day to hang with the Lacroix household. In the morning I took her to a few of my favorite spots and then in the afternoon Evie took her to her favorite spot (the large playground at Reid Park). Evie absolutely loved Dorigen and has not stopped talking about her since we left... she is trying to get us to commit to a trip to DC just so she can see her again.

Of course the most exciting event of the month is looming this weekend... I'm bringing my camera for that, lens cap or no!

Ahhh Fall

For the past five days we have been up at the cabin on the Blue (three cheers for random holidays celebrating questionable conquests that only state employees get off) It has certainly cooled down here in Tucson, but in the mountains it is downright chilly! All the leaves are changing color and that wonderful crisp nip was ever present. We didn't do too much hiking around, as Patrick is still sporting a sprained ankle, but that didn't stop us from a drive and picnic up on Escudilla and general frolic on the Blue.


Because we weren't going for any family treks, I decided to make a puppet theater for Evie that I saw in a magazine my mom had up at the cabin. I forgot how much I like sewing until I got into this project, which, because it has been years since I have truly taken needle to cloth took me probably twice as long as it would for the normal human. I think it turned out OK though and Evie (and Patrick) seem to think that it is a lot of fun. We didn't have any puppets at the cabin so I turned an old sock into a snake. We quickly realized that at Evie's level of puppetry stuffed animals are really just as good (if not better than) your traditional hand-operated devices, so we quickly had quite the menagerie of characters for Evie's shows. The pictures here feature snake and moose but there was also horse, strange kewpie doll (that we bought for a dollar at the Alpine thrift store) and bear.


Unfortunately Sunday night and all day Monday were spent cuddling poor sick Evie (another minor preschool plague, she is already feeling better) Her sickness, of course, now has Patrick and my parents down for the count and I am just sitting here waiting for it to take me too. Somehow I always seem to be the last one to fall... as I went to bed last night I took a few big breaths through my (unplugged) nose and a nice big swallow with my (un-scratchy) throat, just so I could remember what it all feels like when I eventually get sick. I'll do the same tonight, maybe adding a little prayer to the all merciful deity that occasionally spares parents of their children's viruses.

Oktoberfest

Last Sunday we decided on a whim to go out to the Oktoberfest at Reid Park after Evie's nap. It was great fun! The highlights of the outing (aside from the beer for Patrick and I of course) was Evie getting her face painted for the first time and Evie the polka dancer.

When we first arrived I saw the face painting and thought it might be an interesting experiment... As it turned out Evie got really into it and sat still for, I kid you not, 10 minutes while a rather elaborate frog was painted on her cheek. I think it felt a little funny to her because when I tried to take pictures of her she kept making this funny droopy smile (see photos above). Good thing it was a cheap thrill because about 10 minutes later she dug into some roasted corn and the poor froggie lost his front arms and most of his mouth. Next time we'll have to stick to the strictly cheeky butterflies and the like.

Face painting was fun and all but the real excitement took place post corn when Evie made her way to the dancing stage and the live Polka band started oompah-pahing. She was so funny. When we turn on music to dance at home she insists that we hold her hands and dance with her. But here, perhaps because there was a real audience and stage, she wanted nothing to do with us, and even got quite distraught if we so much as stepped on the stage. Luckily it was a small crowd with many a grandparent so her "show" was tolerated and even encouraged. She even made a friend, a four year old, who was quite the experienced dancer herself. As it turned out she was more than happy to take Evie under her wing and help her learn the Polkaing ropes.


Her propensity for quick (not to mention hilarious) moves on the dance floor are going to force me to hone my skills in the action-shot department. Given that I am a novice at such photography I am afraid I was unable to capture some of the most amusing antics... Maybe next time there is a Polka band I'll bring my video camera (now wouldn't that be a treat!)

Evie at 2.5

Name: GenevieveMarieLacroix (this is what she says if you ask her what her name is... it comes out as one big blur and always causes a quizzical look from the questioner)
Age: 2 and 1/2 (although if you ask her how old she is she will say 2 months)
Favorite color: Green
Favorite toy: Lego duplos
Lovey: Blankie Sweater (this is any of three sweaters she has acquired over the past six months)
Favorite activities: Dancing and preforming of any kind and playing in water (especially if it involves the bathroom sink)
Favorite pet: Oliver (or Ollie-olle-O as she calls him. This is the cat Oliver not to be confused with the two new chickens also named Oliver)
When asked what her favorite song was: "Songs about kitties - Kitties all around the world come here to my house" (This isn't one I've heard before but when she sang it I must admit it was pretty catchy) She later told me her favorite song was Alloutte.
Favorite thing to wear: Skirts, especially those that spin nicely
Favorite foods: pasta, blueberries and pita
Favorite books: One Kitten for Kim, Madeline (all of them) and Clifford (all of them)
What does she want to be when she grows up: "A horse... eeheeheehee"
Vices: Chewing on things (like blankie sweater, ribbons and really anything made of cloth), staying up past 8 pm and ice cream.
Nighttime routine: Three (or so) books in Mom and Dad's bed, teeth brushing, one more story (of the fairy tale sort) told in her bed when she is all tucked in and then Mary Poppins lullabies with a round of mbube thrown in for good measure. (These stay on repeat for about 15 minutes hour after she goes to bed, I just checked the play count on them...777 times)
Overheard:
Kelly-Evie close your eyes and go to sleep. Evie-Mommy I can't close my eyes because then I won't be able to see.
With regard to the moon behind the clouds: "Mommy, maybe the moon is playing peek-a-boo?"
When told she cannot jump on the bed after dinner (this is in an often futile atempt to get her to calm down before bed) "But, Daddy, I need exercise!"